Mar 5, 2014

Pasta Carbona: It's what's for dinner

I got a delicious recipe from a friend the other day and I tried it on my family. Look at it, isn't it pretty?! If you know anything about carbonara (which I didn't) you know the sauce calls for a raw egg. This gave me pause, I did not want a raw egg in my food BUT if you do this right and your timing is perfect your egg will be completely cooked and you sauce will be awesome.So make sure you follow the directions below.

My friend told me to get whatever veggies I wanted in my own dishes. I used cremini mushrooms, vine tomatoes, garlic, and fresh parsley and of course, bacon!

Additionally, I was intrigued by the fact that she used Quinoa Pasta which is Gluten-free and a Supergrain. It had a buttery/potatoey taste and yummy. I was so excited that I immediately went to Whole Paycheck oops I mean Whole Foods and bought all the ingredients.

Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the
spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very
important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the
heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook
for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al
dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking
water to use in the sauce if you wish.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame.
Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp
and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for
less than 1 minute to soften.

Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to
coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together
in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from
the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking
quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off
the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit
of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency.
Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper
and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving
bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the
table.